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Our Picks for April, 2025 |
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The ephemera collector : a novel by Stacy Nathaniel JacksonIn near-future Los Angeles, archivist Xandria Brown, battling long COVID but aided by adaptive AI, must navigate a sudden lockdown and protect the Diwata Collection, a vital archive of African-American history and culture, from a violent plot. Illustrations.
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All that life can afford : a novel
by Emily Everett
Anna's dream of London's elegance collides with harsh realities until the glamorous Wilders sweep her into their world of wealth, temptation and self-discovery, where she's torn between her ambition, her identity and the allure of belonging.
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Say you'll remember me
by Abby Jimenez
"There might be no such a thing as a perfect guy, but Xavier Rush comes disastrously close. A gorgeous veterinarian giving Greek god vibes-all while cuddling a tiny kitten? Immediately yes. That is until Xavier opens his mouth and proves that even sculpted gods can say the absolute wrong thing. Like, really wrong. Of course, there's nothing Samantha loves more than proving an asshole wrong... . . . unless, of course, he can admit he made a mistake. But after one incredible and seemingly endless date-possibly the best in living history-Samantha is forced to admit the truth, that her family is in crisis and any kind of relationship would be impossible. Samantha begs Xavier to forget her. To remember their night together as a perfect moment, as crushing as that may be. Only no amount of distance or time is nearly enough to forget that something between them. And the only thing better than one single perfect memory is to make a life-and even a love-worth remembering"
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Any Trope but You
by Victoria Lavine
A bestselling romance author flees to Alaska to reinvent herself and write her first murder mystery, but the rugged resort proprietor soon has her fearing she's living in a rom-com plot instead in this earnestly spectacular debut by a stunning new voice.
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Where the axe is buried : a novel by Ray Nayler"A geopolitical thriller about a disintegrating Western world and the race to take control of the mysterious technology that could hold the key to the brewing revolution against tyranny"
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The Griffin Sisters' Greatest Hits
by Jennifer Weiner
Cassie and Zoe Grossberg, former pop superstars as The Griffin Sisters, have been estranged for two decades since their band's rise and tragic fall, when Zoe's ambitious daughter Cherry sets out to uncover the hidden truths behind their breakup and heal their fractured family.
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Audition by Katie M. KitamuraAn elegant actress meets a troubled young man at a Manhattan lunch, sparking a complex relationship that challenges their identities in their personal and professional lives, in the new novel from the author of A Separation of Intimacies.
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Sky daddy : a novel
by Kate Folk
Linda is sexually attracted to planes, and a round-trip flight from San Francisco makes her feel like no human lover could—but when coworker Karina invites her to brunch and Linda's life becomes unbalanced, she must choose normalcy or her dream of“marrying” a suitor by dying in a plane crash.
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The impossible thing
by Belinda Bauer
In 1926, a neglected girl's discovery of a rare bird egg changes her fate, while a century later, Patrick Fort and his friend Nick uncover the dark world of egg trafficking as they pursue a stolen treasure with ties to the past.
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Don't Sleep With the Dead
by Nghi Vo
Nick Carraway―paper soldier and novelist―has found a life and a living watching the mad magical spectacle of New York high society in the late thirties. He's good at watching, and he's even better at pretending: pretending to be straight, pretending to be human, pretending he's forgotten the events of that summer in 1922.On the eve of the second World War, however, Nick learns that someone's been watching him pretend and that memory goes both ways. When he sees a familiar face one very dark night, it quickly becomes clear that dead or not, damned or not, Jay Gatsby isn't done with him. In all paper there is memory, and Nick's ghost has come home.
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The float test : a novel by Lynn Steger Strong"The Kenner siblings are at odds. Jenn is a harried mom struggling under the weight of family obligations. Fred is a novelist who can't write, maybe because she's lost faith in storytelling itself. Jude is a recovering corporate lawyer with her own storyto tell, and a grudge against her former favorite sister, Fred. George, the baby, is estranged from his wife and harboring both a secret about his former employer and an ill-advised crush on one of his sisters' friends. Gathered after a major loss, each sibling needs the others more than ever-if only they could trust each other. A family story is, of course, only as honest as the person telling it. This family story in particular is fraught with secrets about kids and sex and jobs and why the Kenner matriarch had a gun in her underwear drawer. The biggest secret of all though is the secret of what happened between Jude and Fred to create such a rift between the two once-close middle sisters. Over the course of a sweltering Florida summer, the Kenner siblings will revisit what it means to be a family and, if they are smart and kind and lucky, come out on the other side better for having each other. A rich exploration of family, ambition, secrets, and love, The Float Test is an elegant and gripping testament to the power that family has to both nurture and destroy us from a critically acclaimed writer working at the top of her craft"
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Ruth run : a novel by Elizabeth KaufmanTwenty-six-year-old cybercriminal Ruth exploited a hacked microchip to rob banks for five years until she was discovered—now she and her dog must race through California and the West to avoid the slew of government agents on her tail.
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The Raven Scholar
by Antonia Hodgson
Let us fly now to the empire of Orrun, where after twenty-four years of peace, the reign of Bersun the Brusque has come to an end. In the dizzying heat of midsummer, seven exceptional warriors, thinkers, strategists compete to replace him.When one of them is murdered, it falls to Neema Kraa, the emperor's brilliant, idiosyncratic High Scholar, to find the killer and fight for the throne. Neema believes she is alone. But we are here to help; all she has to do is let us in. If she succeeds, we will win an empire. If she fails, death awaits her. But we won't let that happen.
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Notes from a regicide by Isaac R. Fellman"Notes from a Regicide is a heartbreaking story of trans self-discovery with a rich relatability and a science-fictional twist from award-winning author Isaac Fellman. When your parents die, you find out who they really were. Griffon Keming's second parents saved him from his abusive family. They taught him how to be trans, paid for his transition, and tried to love him as best they could. But Griffon's new parents had troubles of their own - both were deeply scarred by the lives they lived before Griffon, the struggles they faced to become themselves, and the failed revolution that drove them from their homeland. When they died, they left an unfillable hole in his heart. Griffon's best clue to his parents' lives is in his father's journal, written from a jail cell while he awaited execution. Stained with blood, grief, and tears, these pages struggle to contain the love story of two artists on fire. With the journal in hand, Griffon hopes to pin down his relationship to these wonderful and strange peoplefor whom time always seemed to be running out. In Notes from a Regicide, a trans family saga set in a far-off, familiar future, Isaac Fellman goes beyond the concept of found family to examine how deeply we can be healed and hurt by those we choose to love"
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The death of us : a novel by Abigail DeanYears after a violent home invasion shattered their marriage, Edward and Isabel reunite for their attacker's trial, confronting lingering trauma, their enduring connection, and the possibility of closure as they grapple with justice, revenge and the impact of their shared past.
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When the Harvest Comes
by Denne Michele Norris
On the eve of his wedding, Davis Freeman's joy is shattered by news of his estranged father's death, forcing him to confront buried trauma and the fragile balance of love and inheritance in his new life with Everett.
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The Pretender
by Jo Harkin
In 1480s England, peasant boy Lambert Simnel is thrust into royal intrigue as he is declared a hidden heir to the throne and must face court politics, rebellion and an alliance with the cunning Joan that could shape the fate of the monarchy.
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Great big beautiful life
by Emily Henry
Avery, eager to break free from her uptight ways, turns to notorious flirt Taylor for lessons in confidence, but as their connection deepens, both must face their growing feelings and the risks of falling for each other.
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When the Wolf Comes Home
by Nat Cassidy
One night, Jess, a struggling actress, finds a five-year-old runaway hiding in the bushes outside her apartment. After a violent, bloody encounter with the boy's father, she and the boy find themselves running for their lives. As they attempt to evade the boy's increasingly desperate father, Jess slowly comes to a horrifying understanding of the butchery that follows them--the boy can turn his every fear into reality. And when the wolf finally comes home, no one will be spared.
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The bright years : a novel by Sarah Damoff"One family. Four generations. A secret son. A devastating addiction. A Texas family is met with losses and surprises of inheritance, but they're unable to shake the pull back toward each other in this big-hearted family saga perfect for readers of Mary Beth Keane and Claire Lombardo. Ryan and Lillian Bright are deeply in love, recently married, and now parents to a baby girl, Georgette. But Lillian has a son she hasn't told Ryan about, and Ryan has an alcohol addiction he hasn't told Lillian about, so Georgette comes of age watching their marriage rise and fall. When a shocking blow scatters their fragile trio, Georgette tries to distance herself from reminders of her parents. Years later, Lillian's son comes searching for his birth family, so Georgettemust return to her roots, unearth her family's history, and decide whether she can open up to love for them-or herself-while there's still time. Told from three intimate points of view, The Bright Years is a tender, true-to-life novel that explores the impact of each generation in a family torn apart by tragedy but, over time, restored by the power of grace and love"
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Julie Chan is dead : a novel by Liann ZhangA young woman steps into her deceased twin's influencer life, only to discover dark secrets hidden behind her social media façade.
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Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng
by Kylie Lee Baker
Haunted by her sister's murder and the whispered words“bat eater,” Chinatown crime scene cleaner Cora Zeng confronts grief, paranoia and disturbing occurrences, including bat carcasses at crime scenes and bite marks that appear on her coffee table.
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The lilac people : a novel by Milo ToddTrans man Bertie and his girlfriend Sofie flee Nazi persecution in 1930s Berlin to live in hiding, later risking everything to protect a young trans Holocaust survivor from Allied arrest in a tale of resilience and the fight for queer survival.
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When the Tides Held the Moon
by Venessa Vida Kelley
In Coney Island, true love rises to the surface. With lush illustrations and buoyant prose, Venessa Vida Kelley forges an unforgettable New York fairytale.
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